Privately-Owned Canadian Distributor Going Solar Hydro

KITCHENER, ON (January 28, 2011 - The Record)—Flanagan Foodservice, a privately owned food
distributor that sells food to thousands of restaurants and food-service
operations in Ontario, has invested $1.7 million to build a
250-kilowatt solar system consisting of 1,300 solar panels that cover
about 100,000 square feet of the roof at its Sasaga Drive facility in
Kitchener.

When the system is turned on at the
end of February, it will start feeding the hydro grid and make money
under the province’s feed-in-tariff (FIT) program for projects above 10
kilowatts in size. The program pays solar producers to generate green
energy under 20-year contract agreements.

Rick Flanagan, one of four Flanagan
brothers who run the company started by their father Joe in 1977, says
the contract should have a payback of about seven years, after which the
investment will generate money for the business.

“It is a different type of economic
decision,” he says. “Typically, when a privately owned company like ours
is doing an investment, we are looking at a three-year payback. But
when it comes to environmental projects, our company’s management and
board has been pretty good about extending the payback.”

The Flanagan installation is one of
the biggest solar roofs on a commercial building in Waterloo Region.
There’s also a 250-kilowatt system on a building owned by Towcon
Holdings on Industrial Road in Cambridge.

People will start seeing more solar roofs glistening in the sunlight.

So far, 1,261 FIT contracts have been
approved for renewable energy projects above 10 kilowatts in size, and
15 of those are now connected and generating electricity for the grid,
says Kristin Jenkins, a spokesperson for the Ontario Power Authority.

Others are expected to come on stream
soon and there are many more applications in the queue. “There is an
ongoing high level of interest in generating clean energy in Ontario,”
she says.

At Flanagan’s, the solar roof wasn’t
just an investment, Flanagan says. “We are always looking for ways to
reduce our environmental footprint.”

The 250-kilowatt system will produce enough clean energy to power about 26 homes each year.

Flanagan’s employs 500 people across
Ontario at facilities in Kitchener, Sudbury and Owen Sound. About 350
people work at the headquarters in Kitchener.

A couple of years ago, in the midst
of the recession, Flanagan’s undertook an $8-million expansion that
added 65,000 square feet of space, including 50,000 square feet of
refrigerated space, boosting the size of the Kitchener facility to
200,000 square feet.

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